Why I love "Mickey’s Christmas Carol"

There are few things more nostalgic to me than the memories of Christmastime as a kid. Every family has their traditions, and many of my own were centered around a few VHS tapes with made-for-tv specials on them. Above all there was one golden tape that I watched in December, and on it was a recording of Mickey’s Christmas Carol from The Disney Channel. My parents had a good habit of recording aired specials and cartoon shorts, such as This is Your Life, Donald Duck, and A Disney Channel Christmas!!!, A Disney Halloween, and many more. We were fortunate to have hours and hours of classic Donald and Mickey shorts from the 30’s-60’s.

The film was initially tied in with re-releases of The Jungle Book and The Rescuers in 1983 and saw plenty of television airings beginning in 1984. This aired often on The Disney Channel throughout the mid-to-late 1980’s. At the time, this was simply another Disney cartoon for me to enjoy which looked similar in style to everything else I grew up with. Everything looked and sounded the same so it was an instant hit for my brother and me.

Characters

Mickey’s Christmas Carol is an awesome showcase of the massive library of characters and films in Disney's repertoire. It must have been a prime opportunity to really delve deep and include a great cast of characters to feature in even the smallest background roles. As a kid, a lot of characters were vaguely familiar to me, in that I had seen them in clips or other cartoon shorts. Others I knew of as just being "a part of Disney" but not knowing their exact origins. Let’s break down who exactly can be seen in the film, shall we? Just hold on (not too tight now)!

1. Big Bad Wolf and The Three Little Pigs (The Three Little Pigs, The Big Bad Wolf, The Three Little Wolves, The Practical Pig) - Charity collector and carolers, respectively. Already Disney decides to go way back with their cameos to a cast of characters that brought home an Academy Award in 1934.

2. Scrooge McDuck - Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge’s actual first animated appearance was in 1967 in Scrooge McDuck and Money, but to the modern era and to most people such as myself, this was their introduction to the character along with new voice talent Alan Young. Shortly after this we saw him star in the rarely talked about Sports Goofy in Soccermania (May 1987) and DuckTales (September 1987).

3. Otto (Robin Hood) - Cameo. I’ll admit I could be wrong about this one - it might just be a generic dog, but if not, then he’s the blacksmith with a banged up leg in a cast in Robin Hood. In research, I’ve read similar castings.

4. Mickey Mouse - Bob Cratchit

5. Donald Duck - Scrooge's nephew Fred

6. Rat and Mole (The Adventures of Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane) - Collectors for the poor

7. Goofy - Jacob Marley

8. Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio, I’m No Fool series) - Ghost of Christmas Past. His gold Official Conscience (18kt) badge has been replaced with Ghost of Christmas Past. He dons the same outfit he wears in Pinocchio.

When Jiminy Cricket takes Scrooge to Fezziwig’s party, we get some real cameo gems!

9. J. Thaddeus Toad (The Adventures of Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane) - Fezziwig

10. Lady Cluck (Robin Hood) - Cameo

11. Frindley/Secretary Bird (Bedknobs and Broomsticks) - Cameo. I hadn’t caught this one until rewatching the film for this writeup. What a deep casting!

12. Rabbit Children, misc. animals (Robin Hood) - Cameo

13. Uncle Waldo (The Aristocats) - Cameo

14. Grandma Duck (Disney comics, This Is Your Life, Donald Duck) - Cameo

15. Cocky Locky (Chicken Little, 1943) - Cameo. Another good one! Caught it this time around.

16. Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow - Cameo

17. Cousin Gus (Donald’s Cousin Gus) - Cameo

18. Angus MacBadger (The Adventures of Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane) - Cameo

19. Chip and Dale - Cameo

20. Huey, Dewey, and Louie - Cameo

See, told ya!

21. Daisy Duck - Isabelle

22. Willie the Giant (Fun and Fancy Free) - Ghost of Christmas Present

23. Minnie Mouse - Emily Cratchit

24. Mouse children - Bob Cratchit’s kids (Martha, Peter, Tiny Tim.) I label these as “generic mice” such as from the short Mickey’s Orphanage. Sometimes the mice are given actual names in the comics, but in my universe they’re just generic clones.

25. Pete - Ghost of Christmas Future. It’s funny to me that he’s referred to as “Christmas Future” as opposed to “Christmas Yet to Come.” Maybe he's named as such so that it’s easily understandable to children and coincides with past, present, and future. By the way this role is brilliantly cast - who else would be so villainous to laugh whilst pushing Scrooge into his own fiery grave?

26. Weasels (The Adventures of Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane) - Gravediggers

27. Skippy and Toby (Robin Hood) - A great example of a fun cameo. They’re in the film but for a second, but it adds to the sensation that it’s Christmas Day and these two friends are just being kids.

28. Grandma Owl and Mother Rabbit (Robin Hood) - More cameos from a favorite film. So awesome!

Well I'll be doggone! The Toad cast really gets some love in this film.

29. Cyril Proudbottom (The Adventures of Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane) - Donald’s horse

30. Practical Pig and two of the Three Little Wolves  - Cameos

Story

There’s nothing mind blowing about the story itself, given that it’s a retelling of a classic, but as I watch this time and time again I appreciate how Disney was able to tell the story and cut out anything that wasn’t vital in order to keep to a manageable 25 minute runtime. Of course this means, for example, cutting out the scenes with Fred (Donald Duck) and his family. Though if they hadn’t cut such scenes out, you’d also run into the character assignment problem - which is, who plays Fred’s wife if Daisy is already playing the role of Scrooge’s scorned love? Again, this speaks well to the writing and editing.

Voice Acting

One thing I love about this film, in retrospect, is the absolute talent of voice actors in the film. This was notably Clarence Nash’s last appearance as Donald Duck, and although his voice is slightly tired and on the squeaky side, he is still my absolute favorite and does a terrific job! No knock to Tony Anselmo, mind you. A bucket list item of mine is the opportunity to speak with Tony on inheriting the role of my favorite Disney character.

While Scrooge McDuck’s previously been on our television screens before, this was the modern-era premier of the late Alan Young as Scrooge McDuck. To many of us, this is THE Scrooge we all know. After all, Alan Young voiced the character through 2016. That’s a remarkable career in voice work alone!

Hal Smith, who voiced Goofy after Pinto Colvig’s death in 1967, does a solid job in his short role as Jacob Marley. Quite the opposite of Alan Young, this was Smith’s last role voicing Goofy. I’m moreover glad that Disney decided to insert the classic Goofy scream as he falls down the stairs after his visit with Scrooge, which scores bonus points for me. And for anybody that cares, it wasn’t until 1987 when current voice talent Bill Farmer took over (and even then it took a few years until the role was solely Farmer’s, as he wasn’t responsible for Goofy’s 1989 appearance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?).

I’d lastly like to comment on Eddie Carroll, who voiced Jiminy Cricket from 1973 until his death in 2010. This is the only Jiminy Cricket I know, the one I grew up with - while I did see Pinocchio occasionally in my youth, it was this regular viewing of Mickey’s Christmas Carol and A Disney Channel Christmas!!! (The Disney Channel’s adaptation of From All of US to All of You which he narrated that) I tie to Carroll. With two Christmas specials on one VHS tape from the 80’s The Disney Channel, it’s no wonder why I associate Carroll with the role of Jiminy Cricket. 

Animation

There weren’t too many appearances of the classic Disney cartoon crew during the early 80’s. The regular production of cartoon shorts fizzled out in the 1960’s and other animated works were standalone, tied to films such as The Jungle Book or meant for television programs such as The Wonderful World of Disney. However given how rarely we saw familiar and classic characters until this point, this film is truly well executed and to me a serious case study bridging Disney animation from the classic era into the modern era.

Characters are on-model and remain respectful representations of their former selves (1940’s-1960’s), but have the vibrance and cleanliness of then-current processes, all forged by the newer talent of 1980’s artists. These animators weren’t responsible for the classic era of shorts, though they certainly grew up on them and yet watching this you’d never know the difference.

Even the opening credit title cards are things of beauty. They look like they’re illustrations straight from a Charles Dickens novel.

I don’t think there are too many examples, if any, of Disney’s cost and time-saving techniques of tracing over prior animated sequences. Considering this film is only a half hour anyway, I’d be surprised if I spotted anything. There are certainly some similarities and homages for sure - for instance when Willie peeks his eye through Scrooge’s bed curtains, or when the two of them are searching for Bob Cratchit’s house in the village. Both are reminiscent of scenes from Fun and Fancy Free but don’t take direct reference from prior work.

Unfortunately when Mickey's Christmas Carol came to Blu-ray in 2013, it did not receive a transfer dignified for its 30th anniversary. As evident from my screenshots, the overall presentation appears blurry as if a cheap Photoshop watercolor filter was applied. This is especially noticeable with background elements that now muddy up. 

Conclusion

Despite a short runtime, the film obviously has left a very powerful impact on my life. Now I show this to my daughters and can watch it with them. Since my oldest saw this last year it’s been well received and is now a Christmastime favorite. How could it not be? She sees the same familiar of characters in a new story much like I did at her age. I hope both my girls will grow to love it and it want it to become a part of their tradition too.

I'll leave you with this - did you know that Mickey’s Christmas Carol actually started as a record album in 1974? The story is roughly the same, but the entire thing is a musical and narrated by Scrooge (you can listen to it online if you search hard enough). The oddest of all are the character assignments for the Ghost of Christmas Past played by Merlin (The Sword in the Stone) and the Ghost of Christmas Future played by the Evil Queen/Witch (Snow White). How weird! It wasn’t until 9 years later did this one-off record become an animated classic.

This account does not represent The Walt Disney Company.